Jumper for interconnecting power control conductors of railway diesel units and the like



2,869,091 TORS Jan. 13, 1959 P. o. ROBARDS JUMPER FOR INTERCONNECTINGPOWER CONTROL CONDUC OF RAILWAY DIESEL UNITS AND THE LIKE Filed March 8,1955 Q BY M United States Patent JUMPER FOR INTERCONNECTING POWER CON-TROL 'CONDUCTORS OF RAILWAY DIESEL UNITS AND THE LIKE Preston 0.Robards,yChicago, Ill., assignor to Equipment Research Corporation,Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application March 8, 1955,Serial No. 492,904

2 Claims. (Cl. 33929) This invention relates, generally to electricalconnecting means and it has particular relation to jumpers forinterconnecting the power control conductors of railway diesel units andthe like.

It is customary to interconnect two or more diesel units for operatingtrains depending upon their length. 111 such case the several dieselunits are controlled from the front or head end station.

It is customary to provide power control receptacles at the ends of thediesel units and to employ jumpers for interconnecting the terminals ofthese receptacles so as to permit control of the several units from onestation.

The receptacles are provided with contact pins and provision is made forinterconnecting them through the use of a flexible jumper that isprovided with contacts for engaging individually these contact pins.

These flexible jumpers are subjected to severe endwise stresses,particularly when they are detached from the receptacles. While theoperating instructions set forth that the power control jumpers are tobe manually dctached from the receptacles, it is often the case that theunits are uncoupled and the power control jumper is detached as anincident to the moving of one unit away from the other. Even when thepower control jumpers are manually detached from the receptacles, it isoften the case that the trainman exerts a pull on the intermediateportion of the jumper rather than on the head at the end.

The present invention has to do particularly with the construction ofthe power control jumper so that it can withstand these unusual stressesto which it may be subjected without injury. Among the objects of thisinvention are: To relieve the power control conductors in the jumperfrom tension stress incident to disconnection from the power controlreceptacles; to accomplish this by employing a strain cable that isshorter than the power control conductors and is secured to each end ofthe jumper so that all endwise strain is applied to the cable; toconnect the power control conductors to the contacts at the ends of thejumper in such manner that all of the contacts and the ends of theconductors are removable unitarily; to accomplish this by securing thecontacts to a removable insulating face piece; and to employ two partcontacts and to apply them to the face piece in such manner that it isheld in compression therebetween.

Other objects of this invention will,in part, be obvious and in partappear hereinafter.

This invention is disclosed in the embodiment thereof shown in theaccompanying drawing and it comprises the features of construction,combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope ofthe application of which is indicated in the appended claims.

For a more complete understanding of the nature and scope of thisinvention reference can be had to the following detailed description,taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:.

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a power control jumper in which thepresent invention is embodied;

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Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, at an enlarged scale, of thepower control jumper shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of one of the insulating face pieces atone end of the power control jumper; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view, at an enlarged scale, showing the detailsof construction of one of the contact assemblies, this being typical ofall of the contact assemblies.

Referring now to the drawing, it will be observed that the referencecharacter 10 designates, generally, a power control jumper which isintended for interconnecting the power control receptacles at the endsof diesel units and the like. It'includes jumper heads 11 that areformed preferably of insulating material, such as neoprene, which hassome degree of flexibility and high insulating characteristics. Formedintegrally with the jumper heads 11 are extensions 12 which telescopeover the ends of a flexible insulating tube 13 which also is formedpreferably of neoprene. Stainless steel clamps 14 secured by screws 15act to hold the extensions 12 securely onto the ends of the flexibleinsulating tube 13. Intermediate the ends of the tube 13 is a clampingpad 16 whereby the power control jumper 10 can be clamped without injuryto one or the other of the units with which it is associated.

As shown more clearly in Figure 2 each of the jumper heads 11 isprovided with a bolting ring 17 that is formed of light weight metalsuch as aluminum about which each jumper head 11 is molded. Each boltingring 17 is provided with three threaded openings 18 of which only one isshown in Figure 2. Formed integrally with the lower portion of eachbolting ring 17 is a polarizing lug .19.

which insures that the jumper heads 11 are properly inserted in thepower control receptacles at the ends of the diesel units.

Overlying the bolting ring 17 and closing off the cavities in the jumperheads 11 are insulating face pieces 22. They are also formed preferablyof neoprene and are setiured by screws 23, Figures 2 and 3, to thebolting rings Each of the insulating face pieces 22 carries a number ofcontact assemblies each of which is shown, generally, at 24. The numberof contact assemblies will depend upon the number of pins in the powercontrol receptacles that are to be interconnected. In the particularconstruction illustrated twenty seven contact assemblies 24 have beenshown.

Each of the contact assemblies 24 include a contact sleeve 25 which isarranged to receive the respective contact pin of a cooperating powercontrol receptacle. The contact sleeve 25 is cylindrical in shape and isformed preferably of copper tubing. It is inserted in a cylindri: calopening 26 and has a snug fit therewith. The outer end of the contactsleeve 25 is flared outwardly as indicated at 27 for overlying acorrespondingly flared outer endof the opening 26. At its inner end thecontact sleeve 25 is provided with a radially inwardly extending flan e28 for a purpose that will be apparent presently. Coop crating with thecontact sleeve 25 is a terminal member 29 that is formed preferably ofbrass. It is arranged, as shown in Figure 4, to telescope over the innerend of the contact sleeve 25 in an opening 30 in the face niece 22- thatis slightly larger than the diameter of the opening 25. The terminalmember 29 is provided with a longitudinah ly extending threaded opening31 for receiving a screw 32 the head of which overlies the radial flange23 and, when it occupies the position in Figure 4, it secures thecontact sleeve 25 against separation from the terminal member 29. Theconstruction is such that, when the screw 32 is tightened, the contactsleeve 25 and the terminal member 29 are drawn toward each other so asto place the portion of the insulating face piece between the flaredopen end 27 and the inner end 29 of the terminal member 29 incompression. The reaction is such as to secure'zy hold the contactsleeve 25 and the terminal member 29 in position.

The terminal member 29 is provided with a longitudinally extendingopening 33 which constitutes a continuation of the threaded opening 31but is of smaller diameter and it is arranged to receive endwise thereofa flexible conductor 34 which is provided with a layer of insulation 35.It will be understood that the conductor 34 constitutes one of the powercontrol conductors and, as shown in Figure 2, these conductors extendbetween the jumper heads 11 through the flexible insulating tube 13. Aflexible conductor 34 is provided for each of the terminal assemblies inone of the insulating face pieces 22. In order to secure the end of theflexible conductor in good contact engagement with the terminal member29, the tubular end 36 of the latter is deformed onto the former so asto provide the desired contact engagemerit.

As pointed out hereinbefore, when one or the other of the heads 11 iswithdrawn from its associated power control receptacles to separate thecontact sleeves 25 thereof from the corresponding contact pins, thepower control jumper 10 is likely to be subjected to severe stress. Inorder to relieve the flexible conductors 34 and the flexible insulatingtube 13 of this stress, a flexible steel cable is employed. The flexiblesteel cable 40 constitutes a tension member and it is preferablyinsulated with a suitable cover 41 of insulation such as nylon. Thetension member 40 is slightly shorter than the flexible conductors 34 sothat it rather than the conductors will take any endwise strain that isapplied to the power control jumper 10. As shown in Figure 2 the ends 42of the flexible steel cable 40 are looped around the screws 23 and thusare anchored to the heads 11.

In order to aid the locking knob of the cover in skidding on insertionof the head in the receptacle aluminum skid plates 43 are provided alongthe upper portions of the jumper heads 11 and insulating face pieces 22as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Within each end of the tube 13 and coextensive with each extension 12 ofthe heads 11 is a steel compression tube 44. its purpose is to preventcollapse of these parts when the clamps 14 are tightened by the screws15.

It will be observed that the flexible steel cable or tension member 40relieves the flexible conductors 34 of any endwise stress to which theymight otherwise be subjected. Thus their sole function is to provide forinterconnecting the respective contact assemblies 24- in the face pieces22 of the heads 11 at the ends of the power control jumper 10.

When it is necessary to dismantle the power control jumper 10 for repairpurposes, the three screws 23 are loosened. Enough slack is provided inthe flexible conductors 34 so that the ends thereof can be withdrawnslightly from the jumper heads 11 together with the insulating facepieces 22. Since the contact assemblies formed by the contact sleeves 25and the terminal members 29, secured together by the screws 32, are heldWhat is claimed as new is:

1. A power control jumper for interconnecting power control receptacleson adjacent ends of railway diesel power units and the like comprising,in combination, a pair of jumper heads of insulating material at theends of a flexible insulating tube, a bolting ring at the outer end ofeach jumper head, an insulating face piece socured to each bolting ring,a plurality of contacts carried by each face piece; each of saidcontacts comprising a contact sleeve extending into its face piece fromthe exposed side and having a radially inwardly extending flange at itsinner end, a terminal member extending into the face piece from theopposite side and telescoped over the inner end of said contact sleeveand having a longitudinally extending aperture therethrough the innerend of which is threaded, and a screw having a head bearing against saidflange and engaging said threads and placing said face piece incompression between said contact sleeve and said terminal member; aplurality of flexible conductors in said insulating sleeveinterconnecting said contacts by being secured in the outer end of theaperture of the respective terminal member, and a flexible tensionmember extending through said insulating tube and interconnecting saidbolting rings, there being slack in said conductors whereby forceapplied endwise to said heads is resisted solely by said tension memberand no tension stress is applied to said conductors.

2. A power control jumper for interconnecting power control receptacleson adjacent ends of railway diesel power units and the like comprising,in combination, a pair of jumper heads of insulating material at theends of a flexible insulating tube, a bolting ring at the outer end ofeach jumper head, an insulating face piece removably secured to eachbolting ring, a plurality of contacts carried by each face piece; eachof said contacts comprising a contact sleeve extending into its facepiece from the exposed side and having a radially inwardly extendingflange at its inner end, a terminal member extending into the face piecefrom the opposite side and telescoped over the inner end of said contactsleeve and tightly in the insulating face pieces 22, the disassemblyhaving a longitudinally extending aperture therethrough the inner end ofwhich is threaded, and a screw having a head bearing against said flangeand engaging said threads and placing said face piece in compressionbetween said contact sleeve and said terminal member; a

plurality of flexible conductors in said insulating sleeveinterconnecting said contacts by being secured in the outer end of theaperture of the respective terminal. member, removal of said insulatingface piece from said bolting ring carrying with it the ends of saidconductors connected to said terminal members, and a flexible tensionmember extending through said insulating tube and interconnecting saidbolting rings, there being slack in said conductors whereby forceapplied endwise to said heads is resisted solely by said tension memberand no tension stress is applied to said conductors.

References (Jited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS546,471 Neher Sept. 17, 1895 1,152,005 Clark Aug. 31, 1915 2,306,206Dalgleish Dec. 22, 1942 2,590,131 Schonstedt Mar. 25, 1952

